June 16, 2009

In "Making Worlds," the central exhibition at the Venice Biennale, the theme is derived from Nelson Goodman's Ways of Worldmaking. Originally an art dealer, Goodman turned to philosophy and aesthetics later in his career. His slim volume, published in 1978, is a good read, and has undoubtedly influenced many artists, particularly those who have been exploring relational aesthetics for the past few years. Here's an excerpt:

"Never mind mind, essence is not essential, and matter doesn't matter. We do better to focus on versions rather than worlds. Of course, we want to distinguish between versions that do and those that do not refer, and to talk about things and worlds, if any, referred to; but these things and worlds and even the stuff they are made of -- matter, anti-matter, mind, energy, or whatnot -- are themselves fashioned by and along with the versions. Facts, as Norwood Hanson says, are theory-laden; they are as theory-laden as we hope our theories are fact-laden. Or in other words, facts are small theories, and true theories are big facts. This does not mean, I must repeat, that right versions can be arrived at casually, or that worlds are built from scratch. We start, on any occasion, with some old version or world that we have on hand and that we are stuck with until we have the determination and skill to remake it into a new one. Some of the felt stubborness of fact is the grip of habit: our firm foundation is indeed solid. Worldmaking begins with one version and ends with another."

The press preview took place in the first week of June, but few critics mentioned anything about the paintings in their reviews of "Making Worlds," so I asked Two Coats intern Willa Koerner to put together a list of artists whose work involves some form of painting. Here's what she came up with.